Intergalactic Seahorse
by Invader-Hime
Summary: Follows Alien Force Continuity. Life has been wonderful...now in their twenties, Kevin and Gwen are engaged and expecting...but the baby has mysteriously disappeared! Where is she? Fluffy, weird humor within. MPREG Warning for the squeamish. KXG
1. Intergalactic Seahorse Pt 1

Intergalactic Seahorse

By Chibi Hime

AN: Okay, fluffy weird humor ahoy. Use discretion. CNS/MOA own the characters. I own the combination of words "Intergalactic Seahorse".

Kevin Levin looked as white as a sheet. His eyes stared blankly ahead, unable and unwilling to focus on anything.

The old Galvan's revelation hadn't given him any comfort. Not really.

Wow.

Things had certainly taken a turn for bizarre in the past forty-eight hours.

It had all started when Gwen had gone to the doctor.

Her last physical had indicated she was expecting. Two months had gone by and nothing about Gwen had changed. She had started to worry and had set up an appointment to go, somewhat disappointed that Kevin didn't ever want to go with her.

What she didn't know was that it wasn't from lack of support. He was just afraid that if he went, he'd be too tempted to ask about a chronic pain in his side he'd had for the last month. He's felt a swelling there over the past few weeks. He didn't want to worry Gwen with it. She had enough to worry about between their upcoming wedding, their move, her new job and now the baby. He didn't want to stress her any more than necessary.

He honestly wouldn't have given the pain a second thought..if he wasn't convinced there was a malignant tumor pressing against his arm. He had felt something out of place in his side for a few weeks now. He hated doctors and wasn't about to go to one. Kevin couldn't even remember if he had ever been inside a proper doctor's office. He'd always been too afraid they would find something irregular about him that would give them permission to hand him over to a lab somewhere. That wasn't something he was willing to risk, even now...especially now that he had people to take care of, who depended on him. No...he'd sit here and wait for Gwen to come home. He'd sit here with his left arm leaning on

She did.

She came home in tears.

The doctor had told her she wasn't pregnant, despite the fact that three at home tests and one office visit had said otherwise. Their baby was gone. Gwen sobbed and came up with countless theories about how her energy powers must have consumed the child's mana and how she must be responsible for its disappearance.

Seeing her like that ate at Kevin. He'd given the up talk of his life, even if his insides felt like they were falling apart, even if he too was wracked with despair. Ridiculous. He'd said that was impossible. He'd told her how it must be the fault of the know nothing Earth doctors. They needed outside help..they needed...

Azmuth and Myaxx.

As per Gwen's suggestion.

Not at all who Kevin had envisioned them to be. He picked up a bizarre chemistry between the two of them that made his mind wander to places he'd prefer it didn't. He really wanted some pizza right now. He quickly drew his thoughts back to the predicament at hand. Their baby was missing. A sobering thought indeed. More sobering than he could have imagined.

Ben had arrived shortly after the alien pair had run a series of tests on the two of them. He'd played the concerned cousin and the old friend all at once. Why did he even need to be there? Gwen was whispering something to him and the two of them kept glancing over at Kevin as Azmuth sat in his palm running a few more bio-scans.

The frog like tiny alien then crawled up Kevin's shoulder, where he sat down.

"Well, I have good news and delicate news. Which do you want to hear first?"

"The good," Kevin answered.

"Your baby is neither dead nor missing," Azmuth answered.

"That's good. The doctor was wrong, right?" Kevin asked hopefully, feeling vindicated in his dislike of Earth doctors.

"Not exactly, no. But, Kevin, you know what a sea horse is, don't you," Azmuth asked, a slightly impish grin on his face.

"Yeah," Kevin answered.

"Well, a male sea horse carries the female's fertilized eggs in a pouch until their gestation period is over. According to your genetic analysis, your alien ancestors had a similar trait,"

Ben smiled, the little bits of information clicking together.

"So Kevin is like...an Intergalactic Seahorse?"

The elderly Galvan smiled.

"Yes. There's nothing to worry about. Everything is perfectly fine. Everything is normal," Myaxx said, as her own scans proved the same point a microsecond later.

Gwen smiled widely.

"My baby is okay?"

Myaxx put a large hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Yes, she is fine. She's been with Daddy the whole time,"

The alien offered Gwen a handheld computer. Gwen's eyes lit up when she saw the screen.

"SHE! There she is! There's my little girl! She's okay...but...but where is _is_?...With Daddy...Intergalactic Seahorse?" Gwen's voice trailed off. Gwen's eyes widened. Kevin knew that look. It meant she knew something and was not going to share the information.

Kevin's face paled.

"What?"

Azmuth rolled his eyes.

"Haven't you been listening to a thing I've been saying?"

Kevin nodded.

"I have."

His eyes gave no indication that he had the slightest idea what any of them were implying. He'd heard plenty, but not absorbed any of it.

Azmuth sighed.

"I guess I have to spell it out. You and Ms. Gwendolyn have been...ah...intimate?"

"And how!" Kevin said grinning madly.

Gwen elbowed him in the back.

"Have you two been intimate in the time since her visit to the doctor two months ago?"

Kevin eyed Gwen's scowling face. He glared back with a _Well, what? They already know_ look.

"Yes," he said simply.

"Ah ha. Have you been experiencing any side pains or abdominal cramps on the left side of your body?"

"Yes," Kevin answered, his eyes darting back and forth between everyone else in the room. Everyone had a knowing look and he felt completely in the dark. No, that was a lie. A lie to himself. He had a terrible sinking feeling.

"Having engaged in sexual activity after the child's conception activated a few of your dormant alien traits. Apparently, the biological sequence for the embryo switch was initiated,"

"Embryo switch?" Kevin asked, swallowing heavily.

"Well, yes. On you ancestor's homeworld, it is customary for mates to take turns serving as the host for the growing fetus. It is traditionally exchanged externally in later stages, but...in the early ones, the embryo is exchanged...intimately. Since Gwen's reproductive system is largely human, there isn't a way to...re-exchange the embryo once it reaches a certain size," Azmuth explained.

Kevin's face looked nervous. He grabbed Gwen suddenly.

"If we get intimate right now, Can I exchange it back?" he asked somewhat desperately.

"No. It is too late for that," Azmuth said, plenty happy about it.

Damn. He hadn't been in the mood for the past month and a half because he had thought he had a malignant tumor. Now he was ...oh god.

"You...you mean I'm...I'm," he couldn't bring him self to say it. He could hardly even think it.

"Kevin, you're, for the lack of a better word, pregnant," Azmuth said.

"Oh," Kevin said.

His eyes lost focus and his hand shook.

"I just..I just need to sit down"

And he did.

Right there on the floor.

That's where he was now.

White as a sheet and staring off into space.

Azmuth quickly hopped down from his perch.

"Honey, are you okay?" Gwen asked putting her hand on her fiance's shoulder.

"Me? Sure? Why not?" his voice sounded tinged with madness.

"Well, this is a little sudden. But, hey, our baby is okay...isn't that a relief?" Gwen asked.

He giggled a little at her comment.

"Yes...a relief yes," he said getting up again.

"Yes, Gwen! It is a complete relief that the lump in my side isn't a malignant, cancerous tumor! Wow! It is a baby! Our missing baby! Wouldn't you know it Gwen? She's been in my side the whole time! Yes! it is a relief that, as further proof of my freakish nature, I have been knocked up by my own fiance,"

"If it makes you feel better about it, technically, you knocked her up," Myaxx commented, in an attempt to calm him down.

"No! No it doesn't! It doesn't change the fact that I'm now a PREGNANT MAN! Last time I checked, that was humanly impossible!"

"Humanly, no. Hybrid, completely," Myaxx nodded, smiling.

She wasn't helping.

Kevin clenched his fist and his arm brushed against the lump on his left side.

"It...It's not manly," he whimpered.

"On the contrary, on..." Azmuth started.

"MY ANCESTOR'S HOMEWORLD IT IS NORMAL!" Kevin finished.

"Yes," Myaxx nodded.

"This is EARTH!" Kevin screamed. "It isn't normal here! It is weird...and why the hell is the damn thing on my side!"

Azmuth groaned.

"You're so dense. That's where your pouch is,"

"I don't have no stinking pouch!" Kevin snarled.

He felt Gwen gently roll up the bottom part of his shirt.

"Actually, it looks like you do. I always thought it was a scar or something," Gwen commented.

"It is a scar!" Kevin insisted.

"How did you get it?" Azmuth asked.

"I don't know...it has just always been there!" Kevin insisted.

"Pouch," Myaxx said smiling.

"Baby Pouch," Azmuth seconded.

"Think of it this way, no painful labor. When gestation is complete, she'll just pop right out of there," Myaxx smiled.

"Pop? Out of my 'pouch'?" Kevin asked.

"Yes!" the two alien scientists chimed in unison.

"Oh," Kevin said calmly.

Half a second later, the Intergalactic Seahorse was unconscious on the floor.


	2. Intergalactic Seahorse Pt 2

Intergalactic Seahorse Part 2

Several Months Later...

Gwen Tennyson opened and shut the door to the apartment she shared with her fiance. Things looked exactly as they did when she went to work, except the cupboard had been left open to display their massive collection of Coco Puffs, Pizza sauce and pickles. She grumbled and shut it. At least their shopping list had gotten shorter.

"Hey, Pumpkin!"

She heard Kevin's voice from the living room.

"Hey Seahorse!" she called back, picking up a few Netflix envelopes and a box of cereal. She entered the living room, which had been turned into, well, a nest, for lack of a better word. Their television was perpetually on. Kevin had taken up residence on their convertible couch and was surrounded by blankets, DVD cases, car magazines and empty pickle jars. While it was strangely cute, Gwen felt something eating at her every time she came home to it.

"Hi hun!" she said. She sat down on the couch next to him and handed him the Netflix envelopes.

"What's this? A vampire dolphin movie?" he asked hopefully.

"No..I don't think I want our baby talking with a bad euro accent. Open it up,"

Kevin did so and his face fell.

"Joy. Baby Genius presents the Periodic Table through easy to learn songs and color patterns. Fun," he said drolly.

"I want her to get a good start," Gwen said smiling.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have a friggin' baby growing out of some weird ass pouch you have in your side that you have to, you know, watch movies for and stuff,"

The comment poked at Gwen in the absolute wrong way,

"I wanted to. You know I did," she said icily.

"Yeah, I know. But guess what, I'm the one who gets to spend the last two months on the couch eating friggin' cereal and pickles and watching...Baby Genius presents the Periodic Table!"

"You're making yourself into a shut in!" Gwen scolded.

Kevin's dark eyes flickered furiously.

"I hate this! I can't leave the house! It is on my side, so I can't even pretend I'm fat! There's no way to explain it that doesn't end with 'freak'," Kevin whined.

Gwen frowned, disappointed in him.

"Can't you pretend she's a tumor or something? Like YOU thought she was, KEVIN!"

Her voice betrayed her disdain. Kevin's harsh expression softened.

"I know that voice. What's wrong Pumpkin? I mean, what's really, really wrong?" he asked.

Gwen stuck her head up in the air, her lower lip trembling.

"It...It's not fair," she managed to get out before collapsing into tears.

Kevin eased his lopsided body closer to her. He gently put his arms around his distraught fiance. Gwen grabbed him desperately and sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's not fair! She...she was supposed to be my baby, MINE! You don't even need me!" Gwen sobbed.

"What?" Kevin gasped.

"You," Gwen tapped his broad chest, "Don't need me. You've got everything handled. You and that ridiculous little pouch of yours. You just have to sit around and wait! You don't need me at all! I'm unnecessary to the process. It isn't even like I'm her mother!" Gwen wailed.

"That's not true. She is your baby and she was in you first, remember what old long beard said? He said she was in you for a few weeks. If it wasn't for me, she'd still be there. If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't exist. I...she...we need you. You are the most important thing in the world to me...well, you and my other special little lady," Kevin rubbed his swollen side. He felt a slight tap on the inside. Then another.

Wordlessly, he took Gwen's hand and placed it in the exact same spot. The young woman's face brightened. Gwen rested her cheek on the large lump on the side of Kevin's abdomen and felt tiny little feet kicking at her on the other side. It seemed so simple now. When it was just the three of them, when Gwen didn't have to face the normal world and come up with a new reason Kevin, her fiance, wasn't with her. When she didn't have to deal with the whispers and the rumors. When it was just the three of them together...it all just seemed to work. Strange? Yes. Very. But she could do strange, strange was fine.

"See? She loves her Mommy and can't wait to meet her," he said gently.

Gwen suddenly burst into tears again for a completely different reason.

"Oh, Kevin, I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"Wanna read her favorite book?" Kevin asked.

Gwen cocked her head and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm serious! Here,"

He pulled out a copy of Go, Dog, Go! from under a pile of car magazines.

"She likes it because even though the boy dog gives the girl dog a hard time about her hat, he secretly likes her...and her weird hat," he said, smiling.

Gwen smiled.

"Yes. I'd love to read it to her," Gwen said happily.

The two of them sat together under a warm blanket as Gwen read the story over and over for the next two hours.


	3. Intergalactic Seahorse Pt 3

Intergalactic Seahorse Part 3

By Chibi HIme

Kevin Levin sat on the couch in his living room. He was avidly watching Baby Genius presents Shakespeare's Greatest Hits for Children when a strangely familiar voice chimed up.

"My, Look at you! You're big as a house!"

Kevin almost leapt out of his skin as he felt two hands pinch his cheeks.

"Verdona? What are you doing? Gwen's not here!" he almost growled.

The disguised alien smiled eerily.

"I know that, Curtis,"

"Kevin," Kevin said, rubbing his sore cheeks.

The elder being waved her hand.

"Whatever. Gwendolyn sent me to check up on you...and my little sparkling star!"

Kevin realized she wasn't even trying to make eye contact. Her attention had immediately shifted from him to his swollen abdomen.

"How do you get around? It doesn't look like you should be able to move. Well, that's under evolved mammalian life forms, for you. That totally destroys any notion of symmetry. Luckily, the little cosmic being you've got brewing in your pot will make up for all your...imperfections," she clucked.

The old woman trilled in her throat and Kevin felt the...child in his side shift itself. He put a reassuring hand on the top of his..pouch. He'd had thought eight months of this would have acclimated him to the concept that there was a little girl growing in a pouch in his side. Eight Months hadn't...it was still bizarre and alien to him. But there was one thing he did know...his little girl didn't like that...that...whatever it was the alien was doing.

"Don't do that, You're scaring her," Kevin said sternly.

Verdona narrowed her false blue eyes.

"I suppose you know all about babies. You first timer,"

"I know enough. First and last. Gwen gets the next one all to herself. This was an accident,"

The older woman chuckled.

"Aren't they all?"

Kevin felt irked that she had the gaul to say any such thing.

"No, I wasn't talking about the baby," he said, somewhat on edge.

"Oh, calm down. I don't care how my squishy organic grandson-in-law got pregnant...or whatever it is you call it since, as a man, you technically can't be pregnant. Technically you're just an incubator. Gwen's system did all the work. Not that it matters in the long run. All I care is that you and Gwendolyn make lots of sparkly great grandbabies for me!"

With that, she squealed and pressed her face up against the bulge in his side. Kevin felt violated and wished she'd stop.

She didn't.

She pulled up his two sizes too big shirt and nuzzled his side.

"Hi, Schnookums! Great Grandma is here to see you!" she chirped before blowing a raspberry onto Kevin's pouch.

"Stop it!" he coughed, stifling a giggle.

"Aww...someone's got the hormones!" Verdona chimed.

"NO! Someone's got the need for personal space," Kevin growled.

The alien clucked.

"Party pooper. You're far too serious for your own good. Especially given your laughter inducing situation. What subspecies hybrid are you anyway? You're obviously not very evolved if your kind still have pouches. But..if my sweet little Gwen likes such a base life form, that's her business,"

Kevin's cheeks burned.

She was so blatantly self-centered and insulting that he could hardly stand it.

"Well, come on. Come out and see Grandma!" Verdona turned her attention back to the unborn child.

"She's not coming out for you or anybody. It isn't time yet!" Kevin said sternly, a hand on his side.

Verdona looked as if she'd been challenged to a race.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh...won't she?"

"No. If you push it, I'll make something of it!" Kevin said, leaning forward.

Verdona laughed again.

"You? Make something of it? You can hardly stand up straight. Scratch that. You can't stand up straight. You aren't doing anything. You are going to sit on that couch until Gwen comes home and feeds you like the nice little pet you are. Then, we'll get your sparkly bundle to come out. It'll be fun," she added dangerously.

"Look, you purple psycho, I already said she's not coming out for you or anybody. Not for another month! So back off!" Kevin growled.

In the blink of an eye, the alien shed her disguise and placed an illuminated hand on Kevin's pouch. A wicked smile crossed her face.

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" she asked.

A jolt of purple mana shot through his system.

It was the most eerie thing Kevin had ever experienced. He thought for sure it would be painful. It wasn't. It felt invasive, revealing. Unpleasant. It felt as though someone else, some other life form was in his body, moving it, controlling it...searching her nervous system for just the right combination of movements. Searching for buttons, levers and how to move them. Then, it stopped...only to push and pull them in terrible unison...

CLENCH

A massive muscle spasm wrenched Kevin's side.

He glared up with manic eyes at the energy being before him.

"You crazy bitch! What did you do that for? What did you do?"

"I find this whole...waiting around bit to be frightfully tedious," Verdona said casually.

Another spasm rocked him.

Kevin pulled his emergency cellphone out of his back pocket.

"Oh, what's wrong with you now? Calling Mommy 'cause it hurts?"

"No! I'm calling Mommy Gwen because her psychopathic grandmother...urg...forcibly induced labor a whole month early!".

Verdona looked unimpressed.

"What are you so worried about? She'll be fine,"

"I don't know that! I've never done this before...and hopefully I won't ever again," he added.

"Hey, Seahorse, everything okay?"

Gwen's chipper voice came from the phone.

"NO EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY!" Kevin shrieked.

"Oh. Did Grandma Verdona get there yet? She'll help-"

"Help my eye! Gwen! She shocked me with mana and I need you home

because its time!"

"Time for what?" Gwen asked.

"You know...the time time. The time," Kevin mumbled, unable and unwilling to say what he meant.

There wasn't a sound from the other end of the phone.

"Gwen?"

"I'm here. I...I just...now?...Okay, fine. We'll be right over,"

"Because I said so. Just relax until we get there," Gwen said, somehow managing to stay cool and collected while Kevin went out of his mind.

"What am I supposed to do? SHE'S EARLY!" he shrieked into his cell phone.

"Calm down! I'll be there soon!" Gwen's voice crackled from the other end.

"How soon is soon? I have no idea what I'm doing! It is all crampy and painful!"

"Didn't you read any of the books I sent you?" Gwen asked over the phone, obviously trying to change the subject to stall for time.

"Yeah...but none of those apply to me! I didn't experience any of that stuff, it was all different!" he squealed.

"You mean you haven't been lactating?" Ben's voice chirped over the phone.

"Fuck you, Tennyson!" Kevin screamed.

A pink energy tentacle flicked the back of Kevin's head and he yelped in surprise.

"Don't talk to my grandbaby like that," Verdona scolded.

"Ben, be quiet. Kevin, baby, ignore him. We'll be there in five minutes," Gwen reassured him.

"Why is Ben with you?" Kevin asked.

"Finishing up some business. I'm coming straight there...with Ben...no arguing!" Gwen said sharply.

"'Kay...bye," Kevin managed before hanging up and rubbing the back of his head.

A wave of cramps hit Kevin's left side that made him bite his lip. He was certain it didn't hurt as much as those awkwardly read books made it out to be...but then again, none of them covered pouch bearing alien hybrids before.

He put his hands around the swollen part of his abdomen and whispered.

"Come on, honey. Can't you wait for Mommy to get here? I'm no good at this! I can't even handle hatching ants in an ant farm,"

Fortunately, he heard the key in the door. Gwen and Ben entered to find Kevin manic and Verdona looking pleased with herself.

"Thank God you two are here! Look what that nut bar did to me!" Kevin insisted.

Verdona shrugged.

"Calm down, it can't be all that bad. Myaxx said she'd pop right out," Ben said, leaning over the top of the couch.

He felt Kevin's hand on his collar.

"Oh no? You try it sometime! You use your stinkin' pouch to grow your baby. You get the weird cravings for Coco Puffs with pizza sauce...and pickles..and the you watch Baby Genius videos for the sake of your offspring. Then, you squeeze it out of a hole in your side you thought was a really thick scar. Pop it out of that, Tennyson" Kevin ended, gasping for breath.

"I don't have a pouch," Ben stated quietly.

"Well, aren't you special? FUCK YOU THEN!" Kevin shouted.

Another tentacle flicked thwacked the back of his skull.

"Ben, stop it. He's going through a lot and I don't want my baby's first post nataI experience to be violent and curse word laden. Kevin, relax. I know how to deal with you, lie down," Gwen said.

Ben had never seen Kevin so obedient in his life.

He lay back on the couch with an abject look of horror on his face. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Gwen leaned him back and rolled his oversized shirt up. Ben peered over, awkwardly curious about how exactly this miracle of nature would transpire.

Kevin's left side was swollen in the lower abdominal area. The dark line that all three of them had always thought was a scar was larger than usual. The flesh seemed pulled taut, as if it were trying to pull itself open, but was unable too. A thin, gauzy membrane was holding it shut. There wasn't enough "alien" in Kevin to let it do what it was supposed to without a little intervention. It looked simple enough...but...

"Wait. Before I do this...Kevin...let's get married," Gwen said sweetly, smiling.

Kevin gagged.

"What? Now? The wedding is in four months! I'm not rescheduling that damn ice swan!"

"No, silly. We'll do that too. We'll just do it here. Just the four of us. Grandma Verdona can be the witness," Gwen encouraged.

"NOW?" Kevin asked, exasperated.

Gwen pursed her lips.

"Kevin Ethan Levin! There is no way I am having my baby born outside of wedlock in this day and age!"

Ben snickered.

"Your middle name is 'Ethan'? That makes you...Kevin Ethan Levin...Kevin E. Levin. That is hilarious," he laughed.

"Yuck it up hero boy!" Kevin snarled sarcastically.

"Ben!" Gwen snapped.

Ben looked slightly disappointed, but smiled widely.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in this apartment to celebrate the joining of this intelligent, beautiful young woman to this brash, stubborn, but well meaning Intergalactic Seahorse," he said, somehow with a straight face.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kevin said drolly.

"In Holy Matrimony," Ben finished.

Verdona squealed shrilly and the hairs on the back of Kevin's neck stood on end.

"This is so romantic!" she gushed, turning around in circles.

"If anyone has any reason why these two should not be joined let them speak now or hold their peace until four months from now when we all do this again!" Ben finished.

There was a moment of silence.

Verdona giggled.

Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Gwendolyn Tennyson, do you take Kevin Ethan Levin as your Intergalactic Seahorse for as long as you both shall live, as I am quite certain no one else would...or at least until four months from now," Ben said smirkingly.

Gwen looked into Kevin's eyes intensely.

"I do!" she said remarkably joyfully.

"Good. Kevin E. Levin, do you take Gwendolyn Tennyson to be your schmoompy pumpkin until we do this again in four months?" Ben asked.

"I...I," Kevin's mouth went dry.

Kevin swallowed.

Everything was insane.

This wasn't how he'd imagined his life would turn out.

This wasn't how he'd imagined he would get married.

It certainly didn't involve being married by Ben Tennyson in his own living room while he was playing surrogate mother to their daughter. No. He could easily say he had never imagined his life would take this kind of turn. Turns. Loop-de-loops.

But it worked.

In its own twisted way, it worked. He was fine with that.

"I do!" he managed to spit out. It actually sounded like something closer to "AHHHDUE!", but everyone knew what he meant.

"There you go. Then, by the powers vested in me by the Plumbers..I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride," he finished.

Gwen quickly leaned forward and kissed Kevin quickly. He blinked twice when she pulled away quickly.

"Sorry, hun. I promise a better one at the big wedding, alright?"

Gwen said, focused intensely on his side.

"Umm...sure...okay," Kevin mumbled.

Another cramping spasm wracked his side. He groaned, obviously sweating.

Gwen studied the tissue intensely and an idea occurred to her.

"Here, let me try something," Gwen said.

Carefully, she angled a thin, pink beam of mana energy and split the membrane.

A gush of grey fluid poured out. The scent of vinegar filled the air in the small apartment.

Kevin bit his fist. Ben wretched.

Gwen tentatively stuck a finger in the hole she had made. A tiny hand latched around her finger.

Time seemed to stop.

Gwen could no longer hear or see anything.

All she felt were those fingers.

All the strangeness and insanity seemed to stop in that moment. That tiny little hand made it all worthwhile. It made all the looks and stares and whispers worth it. Those little fingers proved this wasn't all some giant cosmic joke fate had played on all of them. The past few months had been strange, bizarre and even frightening at times...but here and now, she realized that none of it mattered.

Her face went slack and she found she could barely breathe.

There actually was a little life in there. It wasn't a dream. Their baby really was in there and was about to come out. Gwen felt Verdona's hand on her shoulder. The Anodite materialized some soft, pink blankets and held them out to Kevin.

"Peace Offering?" she bubbled, smiling.

Begrudgingly, he took them. In a flash of purple, Kevin found the bundle of blankets in his arms now contained...a very tiny person. His side was sealed back up, now a real scar.

The room fell silent. The tiny being shifted herself slightly in her father's large hands.

"See, I told you she was fine. I could tell. Anodites can tell," Verdona smiled, her disguise suddenly back.

"Wow. She really did pop right out...thanks to Grandma," Ben commented ceerfully.

Kevin wasn't listening to them. Verdona could be juggling and Ben could be jumping through fiery hoops right now and he wouldn't even notice.

"She's...she's so tiny and perfect," Kevin whispered lightly.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't had nightmares about what his child could be. He'd been kept up at night on numerous occasions, a hand on his side, feeling the little life within and highly doubting everything was "fine" like all the scans and tests his bizarre alien caretakers were constantly performing. But now that she was here, he couldn't see how any of those could ever come true. She had two arms, two legs and a little tuft of orange hair. She was perfect. A perfect little being right there in his hand.

"What's her name?" Verdona asked calmly.

Gwen and Kevin exchanged glances.

"Well, we...we're not really sure...we were still deciding," Gwen stammered.

"I like what we talked about," Kevin said.

"Which ones?" Gwen asked.

"Genevieve and Gwendolyn," he said simply.

Ben raised an eyebrow at the "originality".

Verdona squealed.

"How adorable!"

Gwen smiled.

"I like those too," Gwen said calmly, looking relieved.

Kevin wondered if she hadn't secretly been having the same worries he had. He held to tiny bundle out to her.

"This is long overdue. The next one is all yours, I swear," he said, smiling.

With trembling hands, Gwendolyn Tennyson took her daughter into her arms and found she never wanted to let go. She was finally holding her...they were finally together. She hugged her close and felt the tiny child in the blanket snuggle up close to her.

"Welcome to the world, Genevieve Gwendolyn Levin. Things are a little strange out here...but after you get used to it, you wouldn't want to have it any other way," Gwen said, winking.

Kevin suddenly felt nervous.

"What was that wink for?" he asked.

Gwen sat down next to him rocking the baby in her arms.

"Oh, you'll see," she said sweetly.

THE END


End file.
